Hey all, Ran the "Blender Batch" yesterday and came away with a puzzling result. I've been pouring over the archives for a while and have come up short of answers. The best input yet is from Todd:
"Should you ever find the lesser volume layer on top after the reaction, you will know that you did not use enough catalyst to overcome the amount free fatty acids in the feedstock. In such an instance, your catalyst simply made soap and the unused alcohol is resting on top of the oil. There's a remedy for this error, but it's unimportant until it happens." Details for my Blender Batch are: Sodium Hydroxide (3.5g) and Methanol (200ml) mixed in a HDPE container, agitated with a hand blender for about 15 minutes. 1 Litre of store-bought canola raised to 140F then poured into a 4 Litre tough glass jar with narrowing mouth. Methoxide added. Then I agitated the batch with a hand blender for 15 minutes straight. The mixture stratified into 2 distinct layers - Brown viscous substance on the bottom (glycerin?) and a very light golden substance on the top. The brown layer was about 15% by volume. We thought we had biodiesel on our hands. Yet, in the morning (after sitting for about 8 hours), a very thin dark golden layer formed on the top. It's a very thin layer. Furthermore, when I took the cap off of the jar this morning (jar had been in direct sunlight for hours), the fumes blew the cap out of my hand. I took a bit of toilet paper and absorbed a bit of the substance on top, then took a match to it - and it LIT OFF. Furthermore, there is now a small island of whitish stuff forming at the very bottom (unreacted lye?). Did I not agitate long enough? Was the methoxide not blended well enough? Did I form free fatty's by heating the oil too much? But wouldn't free fatty's sit under the BD (or unreacted oil) or mix with it? Todd, you mentioned that there was a remedy for this situation. Now might be a good time. All the best, Joey Hundert ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Yahoo! Domains - Claim yours for only $14.70 http://us.click.yahoo.com/Z1wmxD/DREIAA/yQLSAA/FGYolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
